The Art of the Foot
by StarRoseColors
Summary: Drabbles of my Foot Clan!Donnie AU. (April/Donatello, Casey/Rapheal.)
1. AU Explanation

**AU Explanation, before we start.**

This is sort of a smash up between the 2012 cartoon and the new ROTTMNT- settings and character designs are like ROTTMNT's but the characters' personalities sort of depend. More on that later. The Kraang do not exist and it never explained where the magic weapons come from.

Donnie, years ago, joined the Foot Clan- the 2012 version- and Shredder due to resentment and such. He acts as second in command next to Karai and also is the brain. He dissects mutants in his free time. He is clever and is basically a psychopathic evil genius. Not really sure if he wants to kill and dissect April or fuck her into the nearest surface.

April O'Neil is a tech genius and her dad is a world famous scientist, who does not pay any attention to her. She has inherited her Indian mother's looks but her Irish heritage shows through the red tint to her hair. She met Splinter and dragged her childhood friend Casey Jones into the battle and ninja training. Suggested to be fully human, but has an odd connection to the turtles' magic weapons.

Casey Jones is...still Casey Jones. He and Raph have loud crushes on each other.

Mikey is still the artist of the group and master of gymnastics. He has the magic fireball of a weapon. Doesn't talk about Donnie much. Gets excited about every new thing about the surface.

Leo and Ralph share the position of leader. Leo makes jokes but gets really serious in battle, especially when against Donnie and has the portal sword. Raph gets angry in battles against Donnie but is mellow outside battle and has the avatar tongas and his backup weapon of the sais.


	2. Regular Meeting

April had been an idiot.

A goddamn, stupid _idiot._

 _She_ was supposed to be the brain of the group. Yet she had walked into this encounter with blind eyes.

It was supposed to be a regular patrol. Casey and Raph had teamed up for the west while Leo took the east. Mikey took the south and April had taken the north. There was a plan for when it was over to have a cannonball day and she was honestly excited. There was nothing like flying through the air to splash down in cool water.

Her hammer slammed through another bot's head. She quickly turned to catch another through the eye. Only five more. "You're losing your touch Donnie." she called out before kicking and slamming another to the ground. "At least make it hard on me."

Laughter filled the air, coming from everywhere. April couldn't figure out where he had hidden himself. "I wish I could, O'Neil, but you keep wasting my supplies." She could imagine him resting his chin on his hand, pupils dilated as he watched her. In a weird way, this was foreplay for their relationship.

Last robot. It went down easily.

"Then make better robots. I could probably make a better one in my sleep." Her hammer returned to its regular bo staff form. April reached and slipped her goggles over her eyes. Where was he?

A soft noise alerted her of the danger.

The two tech bo staffs slammed together. Hers was purple, his black. He wore a black belt, a matching sash all edged in purple. The sash held a white footprint, over his heart. His mask was black with purple edging as well. April grunted as he thrusted forward, breaking the standstill. Their weapons clashed against, her taking the chance to launch a kick at him.

He dodged easily, swiping at her. She dodged it, bouncing away from him.

They circled each other, April feeling like she was at boxing practice again. "You're getting good." Donatello said, and was that a note of _pride_ in his voice? He launched at her, she dodging and her back hitting a wall. His hand gripped her chin.

"But not good enough."

He leaned forward. April felt her cheeks heat up...

"DONNIE!"

Raph and Casey, both of their faces showing their rage, was sprinting across the rooftops. Donnie groaned, releasing her chin. "That's my cue." By the time backup arrived, he was gone.

"You okay?" Casey asked, resting his hand on her shoulder.

April nodded. "I'm fine. Let's go. Cannonball day, remember?"

The two exchanged glances before shrugging. "If you're sure, sure." Raph said. "Let's go." He and Casey made a running headstart for the next roof. She felt a smile form at the two, before it faded. She glanced in the direction Donnie had left.

 _Jerk._

* * *

 **April and Casey have both been trained by Splinter, but April also takes boxing, ballet, and gymnastics classes on the side. She still has her fan, she just has to reuse a lot of the stuff Donnie left so she also learned how to use a bo staff.**

 **She prefers the staff.**


	3. Mutterings

**Where Donnie first hears of April and their first meeting.**

Deep underground, a lab was lit dimly. The light created deep shadows, hiding machines and blood stains. Only one table was lit, and this one was where the turtle worked at now.

Wearing a black apron and black rubber gloves, Donatello made a careful cut in the upper right arm muscle of the mutant strapped to the table. It had been a rabbit mutant and had been dead for about five minutes. He aimed his words at the recorder next to him. "Subject's mutation appears to have to shift the muscular system in order to add speed-"

"Wow. Still talking to yourself Don?"

Karai appeared from the shadows like she had been formed by them. Donatello rolled his eyes. "I'm in the middle of a scientific investigation. Do you have a reason for interrupting my dissection?"

She nodded. "Seems old Splinter and your brothers have some new allies." He ignored the pang in his heart at the mention of his brothers, pausing the recording. Karai threw some pictures at him. Donatello pulled off his gloves to hold them. Some of the five pictures held his brothers, but the focus was on two humans.

One of them was a male, some of him wearing a skull mask while the others showed him barefaced with a bandana over his dark hair. He looked like a junkie and were those _hockey sticks_? Donatello rolled his eyes, not bothering to look at the other. "So they've allied themselves with humans. Is there a real reason you're bothering me?" Without a word, Karai pointed at the other human.

He glanced at her. Female, looked Indian, dark hair pulled back in a ponytail, in her late teens like the male. Then his eye landed on something. A fan was strapped to her waist, but in her gloved hand she held a familiar staff. Now noticing that detail, Donatello saw the goggles perched on top of her head.

They had given her his stuff. They had given her his _staff_.

"Who is she?"

Karai smirked, obviously _relishing_ this. "His name is Casey Jones. Hers is April O'Neil."

He glared down at the picture. "April..."


	4. Jones and O'Neil

**Casey and April becoming friends. Both are 7. (The turtles would be 8.)**

The girl was sitting in her corner again.

Casey had noticed that every recess, the small dark skinned girl with red in her black hair would go to a small corner. She would stay there the entire period. It was always the same corner, always her drawing in the dirt with a stick. She didn't really speak to any of the other kids, but was always the one to stick her hand up first in science.

This time, he was determined to find out why she stayed in that corner.

Instead of going to play kickball, Casey determinedly headed to the corner. The girl was already there, drawing in the dirt. She looked up in surprise when he sat next to her, but soon looked back down to draw. He craned his neck to see what looked like an engine, like what his father played with in his spare time.

"What'ca doing?"

She paused again. "I'm trying to figure out to improve an engine." she said finally. "So cars don't have to run on fossil fuels."

He had heard the term fossil fuels before, but that wasn't important right now. "Why?"

She paused again, actually stopping to stare at him. "You sound like the teacher. I want to, that's all. We need to learn how, for the world's sake." She returned to drawing.

"My dad has an engine." Casey wasn't sure why he said that. But it made her look up and stop drawing. "In the garage. He plays with it in his spare time." She hummed with what he would later call her thinking face. "Probably better than drawing in the dirt. And I know how to use most of the tools." He could feel the other kids' stares on them, but it didn't matter. "So if you want to..."

"Sure."

They both stood. He stuck his hand out to...his new friend? "Casey Jones."

"April O'Neil."

They shook.

* * *

 **17, turtles 18**

He found her in the corner.

It had been two weeks since April returned to the Lair, face rapidly paling and keep her hand, half dissected open, together. Splinter had done some weird Japanese healing and the regular healing. Casey could still hear Splinter saying _"Get me the poker and the brazier."_

At the worse, her hand would get horribly infected and would have to be chopped off.

The best was if she simply just scarred.

He sat down next to her. She was drawing in the dirt, simply lit by a nearby streetlamp and the moon. She paused when he did but went back to it.

"Raph's getting worried."

She paused again before continuing to draw. This time, she was drawing the weird shell protection Donnie wore. He knew that there was some stuff hidden under heavy protection before he left, stuff she couldn't crack. Including any other shells. Maybe April was trying to figure it out without having one of her own.

"So are Leo and Mikey."

She paused again before talking. "I don't want to talk about it."

"It might help."

"It was stupid- _I_ was stupid, Casey, okay?" She threw her stick down to thrust her bandaged hand at him. "I was stupid and this happened!" Tears started to slide down her cheeks. "I- It was so...stupid." She buried her face in her knees, the slow shaking of her shoulders showing she was crying. Casey sighed, patting her shoulder.

"I'm sorry."

She peeked out.

"It's not your fault."

"Kinda is." He stood up before she could respond. "Now, I think my dad got some copper wiring and a car battery. Wanna see what we can do with it? I can use tools."

April stared at him before laughing. "Sure." She stood. "Thanks Jones."

"You're welcome O'Neil."


	5. First Meeting

Of course it was in an empty storage center.

It was like a cliche conveniently empty warehouse fight in those B-list movies Casey and Ralph liked to watching. (While _not_ making out apparently.) But she didn't really care what those two were up to.

Right now, she was more focused on the _massive amount of Foot robots_.

Leo was using the portal sword to fight some dark haired girl that he called Karai while Mikey used the fire spirit to melt the robots he was fighting. The smell of metal and burning cloth was clear in the air. Casey and Ralph were fighting back to back, making metal and screws fly everywhere. April was using her staff to fight, trying her best to ignore that her shoe was untied. The bo staff she used was a lesser model of the brothers' brother's Donnie's one- he hadn't added the rockets that was apparently on the one he used. But who cared? It was useful in this battle.

She wasn't even sure how this battle even got started. They were patrolling when out of nowhere they had attacked. Karai had immediately gone for Leo while the robots had gone for them.

"Red, watch out!"

That line was also cliche and April would've commented on it if she wasn't dodging the sparking _Foot robot_ that was aimed for her head. She dodged, wincing as it slammed into one of the storage containers. It exploded, setting whatever inside on fire. She moved to dodge a piece of what looked like burning wood, tripping over her shoelaces.

Damn Converse.

She raised herself on one knee. A shadow fell over her. She opened her mouth to utter a greeting as she looked up to Leo-

It wasn't Leo.

He held a bo staff like hers, dark black and silver so shiny April could see herself in it. It matched the odd shell he wore, probably over his real shell. His clothes were clean, unlike the wear and tear of the Hamatos. They were all black, edged in purple. The only other color was the white footprint on his sash, over his heart. His eyes were cold as he studied her.

It was silent.

Mikey was the first to speak. "Donnie..."

Oh.

This was Donnie.

He spoke first. "You must be April."

Then he struck.

She dodged his blow, rolling and springing to her feet to strike back. Their staffs clanged together, sparks flying out. He pulled away to aim a kick at her. April dodged to dodge another blow. The rest of the battle had stopped to watch them spar. Donnie growled when she hit his shoulder hard, creating a small dent in the shell. They parted to stalk around each other. "You just started." he noted.

"Yeah. I've been busy trying to figure out the stuff _you_ left behind."

He shrugged. "Eh, guilty as charged."

Then he charged.

She was ready, their staffs clanging together once again.

The battle seemed to restart once again. Leo and Karai slammed at each other as the boys fought robots. Donnie and April didn't pay them any mind, lost in the world of their own fight.

Leo and Raph both held back during duels, trying to be honorable. Casey and Mikey believed in fair fights.

April didn't believe in honor or fair fights. And it soon became quite clear that Donnie didn't believe in them either. He turned his staff into a rocket powered hammer and sent it to her head. She dodged, feeling the heat on her cheeks. She couldn't help but let out a flutter of a laugh, blood rushing to her cheeks. This...this was awesome.

Well, not awesome.

A headrush.

Yeah, good word.

Then she saw, over Donnie's shoulder, Karai jump over Leo to knock Casey to the ground. She raised her sword over her head...

" _Casey_!"

Later, they would say that her eyes lit up in blue the same time Leo's sword did. A huge portal appeared over Karai and Casey like the one under a nearby moving truck. The two let out yells and quickly moved out of the way of the truck. Ralph grabbed the boy's shirt and yanked him close. The truck fell front over bed and slammed into another storage unit.

The explosion lit up the night.

Donnie and April watched a tire moved past them.

"How...how in the world did you do that?" he finally managed out. April blinked and shrugged helplessly.

The fight soon ended, Leo yanking April with him. Karai and Donnie watched them leave. The former stared at the latter, who was extremely quiet and starry eyed. "Are you okay?"

"I need a sample of her blood."


End file.
